My two cents(was: EXTRA! EXTRA!, etc.)

Adam,

It is difficult to transition from the idealism of youth without giving up, 
and shutting up.   

Families.  huh.  My close family has put up with my radical rants for fifteen 
years or so.  My father won't discuss politics with me, being a party-line 
Republican, but my mother, she still believes the CIA killed Kennedy.  My 
extended family (with the exception of a certain cousin) is pretty bland and 
conformist.  I have to say I don't talk to them much, which is a cop-out.  


Adam Miller wrote:
>I just wonder how many of these people are left - eventually, people just 
>sink too deep into their lifestyle to ever willingly come out of it, even for 
>truth. I feel like so many people bought in so whole-heartedly following 9/11 
>that maybe the scales have tipped in their favor, and maybe it's a losing 
>cause here and now. Not to say we should give up, but I'm just really sad 
>that people are finally getting worried now that things have already gone way 
>too far, just like a million times before. At what point do we have to accept 
>that we're bound to repeat the mistakes of the past?


Too many people in power did buy in whole-heartedly after 9/11, and some have 
realized their mistake (or have had their asses kicked by constituents like 
us).  Things have gone too far.  I think we'll be able to get rid of the 
Patriot Act by bringing in another administration, but transportation security 
measures like CAPPS II and the TSA will be harder to eliminate or modify.

People are complacent.  The majority of Americans are focused on money and 
material items.  Truth, as has been said here before, is percolated through 
major network news outlets.  Normal behavior is watching sitcoms in the 
evening, and discussing said shows with your co-workers the next day.  

I often think how funny it is that other empires have needed religion or 
terror to keep their subjects under their thumbs.  We control the flow of 
information, and sedate our subjects with the promise of wealth and comfort.
Ignorance is sweet and satisfying.

We are going to repeat the mistakes of the past.  The problem with picking a 
president is that we're not presented with the best person for the job, but 
the person who has convinced us, through spin and spending, that they are the 
best person for the job. Voting for president then becomes choosing the lesser 
of two evils, and hoping for the best.

The introduction of a new administration does not guarantee change.  While I 
doubt Senator Kerry, if elected, will continue down the neo-con path, I doubt 
we'll witness behavior different from any other administration.  Cronies will 
receive positions, feather their nests, screw us over.  Business as usual.

Bottom line?  It's tempting to give up, become a schmuck, buy a goddamn SUV.  
I don't think any of us will.  Perhaps one day we'll have an administration 
that cares for its people, and doesn't want to screw over the rest of the 
world. We won't see it, though.  We'll have died of shock.

peace.
-x






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